Lost Online Studies, Vol. 1, Issue 1
"ABANDONED REMIX"
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EXT. JUNGLE 9 -- DAY SAYID and SHANNON. She stumbles, SAYID goes to help her. She rebuffs him. SHannon Leave me alone. I'm not helpless. SAYID Walt is not out here. You're following a Labrador, not a bloodhound -- in an effort to find a boy who's on a raft in the middle of the ocean. SHANNON He's not on the raft. SAYID What are you talking about? SHANNON We found the bottle on the beach. SAYID The bottle with the messages? SHANNON I know he's out here somewhere. I saw Walt. And the raft is gone, and he is all alone. He's the one who needs help. Not me. Him. EXT. JUNGLE 10 -- DAY A storm is brewing; clouds darkening as the scene goes on. Tailenders come to an embankment, climb it with difficulty, hoisting SAYWER alone. At the top... ANA Cindy. Cindy? Where's Cindy?
BERNARD She was just here. ANA Cindy? Cindy? BERNARD I don't know, she was... LIBBY Did they take her? MICHAEL How could she just be gone? BERNARD Cindy? Cindy? ANA I'm going after her. EKO No, we stay together -- we split up, we give them what they want. ANA This is all your fault. We never should have gone through the jungle. You risked our lives to save him and he's already dead. This one's on you. Wait. ANA is suddenly alert. ANA (CONT'D) (alert) I thought I heard something. Do you hear something? The sound of the whisperers suddenly rises up around them -- starting after ANA's line. MICHAEL What the hell is that? ANA draws the gun. LIBBY Oh, god. EKO Run!
COMMERCIAL BREAK EXT. JUNGLE 10 -- DUSK SHANNON falls again in the jungle. SAYID Shannon! SHANNON Leave me alone! SAYID Let's go back. SHANNON He's here. I know it. He needs us. He's just a kid, he doesn't deserve... SAYID I understand, but you have to... SHANNON You think I'm some kind of joke. A child. A spoiled child. SAYID No, of course not. SHANNON You just want sex from me. That's why you're nice to me. SAYID (offended) How can you say that? I have shown you nothing but respect! SHANNON I can't fix radios, or fix broken bones, or hunt boar... or... play guitar... or... or... build a freakin' raft. Sex is all I'm good for. It's all I know how to do! One of the Island's flash storms break out. SAYID (grabbing her) No! That's not true! SHANNON (gets hysterical) Let go of me!
SHANNON breaks free and runs away from him. SAYID hesitates, gravely concerned... She turns and They see WALT, again wet, again speaking backwards. SHANNON (CONT'D) Walt! (to SAYID) Did you see him? SAYID nods, speechless. SHANNON turns, WALT is gone. She dashes toward where he was. SAYID is slow to react. SHANNON disappears from site as the Flashback F/X rises as we cut to... INT. CHEL'S ROOM -- NIGHT Behind a small screen/room divider for nominal privacy, DAMON is kissing SHANNON's neck. She is out of it, still lightly wheezing. Voices are heard whispering incomprehensibly from beyond the divider. SHANNON (vacant, without force) Stop it. I don't like it. DAMON It was your choice to come here. SHANNON (vacant) I never had a choice. DAMON He won't bother you any more. That was what you wanted. Your choice. Your price. INT. CHEL'S ROOM -- NIGHT DAMON is sleeping. SHANNON is dressing. His clothes are by the side of the bed. His wallet is half out of his pants pocket. SHANNON looks at his wallet. Hesitates, then opens it and takes out the money. She sees DAMON is awake, looking at her, grinning unkindly. DAMON I guess that makes it official. SHANNON Go to hell. Flashback F/X sound and back to... EXT. JUNGLE 11 -- NIGHT Pouring rain. SAYID runs after SHANNON into the rain.
SAYID Shannon, wait! Please... Shannon, don't you know... I lo-- A gunshot rings out. From the dark, SHANNON emerges. Her hands clutched at her waist, then they part to reveal the wound. She sags and falls into SAYID'S arms. SAYID pulls SHANNON to him. Over SHANNON's shoulder, behind SAYID's back, she sees ADAM RUTHERFORD, not bloodied this time, not menacing but wet like WALT. He speaks (backward). SAYID does not seem to hear. SHANNON (to ADAM, calmly) It all comes back around. SAYID Shannon, no, don't... SHANNON dies. We pan to see ANA LUCIA advancing slowly, in combat stance, pointing the gun at SAYID. He releases SHANNON just enough that her face becomes visible. CUT between ANA's face and SHANNON's face -- ANA is unreadable. Does she recognize SHANNON? Maximum ambiguity. Reaction shots, horror, shock, MICHAEL, JIN, back to ANA then... SAYID, smoldering with rage. The trademark LOST screechy music swells up and we CUT OUT: LOST CLOSING CREDITS
PRODUCTION NOTES:
WALT backwards speech -- same as in the original episode. ADAM RUTHERFORD backwards speech. In AMSTERDAM: ADAM There was never any reason. It was what it was. On the ISLAND: ADAM (CONT'D) We all get new lives here.
THE WHISPERERS -- Some phrases are barely distinguishable when carefully listening on replay -- WHISPERERS It'll come back around.
Did you hear that?
There was an "incident."
I never had a choice.
Namaste. You're late.
It's in the eyes. =================================================================================================== ABOUT THE AUTHOR J.M. Berger is a freelance writer based in Massachusetts. He is the author of four screenplays, which are available for review by production companies and literary agents. As a journalist, Berger writes investigative reports about terrorism, business, politics and the global effects of complex systems. His full resume is available at www.jmberger.com and his blog (including reflections on LOST) can be read at www.egoplex.com. HOME |
AfterwordBy J.M. BergerI hope you enjoyed this renegade remix of LOST "Abandoned." I wrote this because I love LOST, but I fear season two has gone adrift. I believe my own effort, while imperfect, adheres to certain key devices and themes that helped make LOST great in the first place. In the first season of LOST, there were very distinct traits in the backstories as they were revealed. The most important element -- the element that made me love the show -- was the creation of expectations that would subsequently be turned on their heads by the end of the episode. Whether Locke in a wheelchair, or the author of Sawyer's letter, the most memorable moments of season one was reversal. We saw a backstory, then after we were invested in that story, we were given an additional scrap of information that changes the context of what went before. In "Abandoned (Remix)," I hope there are several such moments of mind-stretching reversal. I tried to play aggressively with expectations, while maintaining internal logic. I deliberately left several elements ambiguous -- Was Shannon psychic or hallucinatory? Was her big problem sexual or mystical, or (as it turns out) both? Most importantly, was Ana Lucia really there in Shannon's flashback, or was her appearance a mix of precognition and hallucination? And that leads to an even more excruciating question -- one that LOST has notably failed to raise -- did Ana Lucia deliberately shoot Shannon, or was it an accident? I know how I would choose to answer those questions, but I certainly don't know what the real writers have in mind. In writing this, I tried to keep the scenario flexible, so that I (as the writer) and you (as the readers) can maintain the illusion that this is what really happened, for as long as possible. Eventually, of course, continuity will catch up with me and will almost certainly obliterate the storyline I have laid out here. That's life. Until then, I will keep the dream alive. I tried to emulate the season-one model in this story -- answering some questions, but in the process raising whole new questions. I wish the real episode had done this. I wish we'd seen a lot more of this dynamic in season two. I hope we will see it return before the season ends. There's nothing wrong with season two of LOST that can't be fixed... yet. I'm troubled by the fact that the writing team doesn't seem to perceive that anything has changed from season one. I hope they can stop congratulating themselves long enough to take a hard look at what they've been doing this season and restore the gripping, engaging course that steered season one -- possibly the best full season of television I have ever seen. I want LOST to succeed, artistically and commercially. They have mastered the former, then they mastered the latter. Now it's time to do both. |
@2006 drabauer
The Society for Lost Studies